Butter(fly) end of Summer

I'm going to watch Madame Butterfly tonight at the Met Opera (in front actually).
It'll be the last event of my summer, even though classes have already started and Autumn is already underway. I, hilariously, almost got into a fight the last time I tried to watch Madame Butterfly at the Met.

A New Hope

I was walking home tonight after dinner with my parents and I felt really lucky to be alive in the here and now. Granted my health has been better, I'm currently unemployed, and LOVE has been a comedy of errors of late (unlike the epic disasters of years past, mind you), but everything else is fantastic especially when you're listening to Pamina sing of her love for Tamino.

Pulse 87

The insomnia is back.
I found my old Walkman and turned on the radio. Stumbled upon WNYZ 87.7 while I was resetting the preset stations. It's a Rhythmic CHR station which basically means it plays dance club music. So now I can go deaf while I go loopy from lack of sleep. Yay.

So tonight's excitement, I met a bunch of dancers on my way home tonight. I was a little drunk as I walked my way back to Union Square after a PG-13 night on the town. I'd passed by several large herds of newbie NYU kids and I assumed the crew on the uptown BMT platform was the same. A W train pulled in and they seemed to be waiting for an N, so I told them to get on. We all boarded together and sat down, but an N train pulled into the express track, so we all changed over and got seats on the express. I was feeling chatty, so I started talking to my neighbor, Lindsey, and eventually was talking to the whole crew (Mandy, Laura, Francesco) about bad choreographers, poor turnout and the upcoming dance/performance season. My own performance on the ride back to Queens was apparently so impressive that the woman sitting across from me started smiling and talking to Laura even though she didn't know any of us. I overheard her say something like, "Only in New York can you have complete strangers blah blah on the train...", but right then the N pulled into my stop.
I believe in NY and I believe that NY believes in Sang. :)

The Slip: Halo 27

Nine Inch Nails has a new album available for download off their site.

I remember the first time I saw Trent Reznor.
@ Webster Hall about 15 years ago.
I went with Jenny.
I was crazy about her.
I still have all those bootleg NIN cassettes she gave me.

Die Stille vor Bach

I saw The Silence Before Bach (Die Stille vor Bach) by myself at Two Boots Pioneer Theater on the last night of its run. It's Pere Portabella's latest work and though I feel like I've been waxing hyperbolic too often of late, the movie was an amazing fusion of music and film. I would say more, but this review on Not Coming to a Theater Near You captures the spirit of the film. That set piece on the U-bahn with all those kids playing the Prelude to Cello Suite #1 was my favorite, even more than all the snippets from the Goldberg Variations.

One Boy, One Girl, Seven Cups

It all started innocently enough, at a big family dinner in Chinatown. Went to Mandarin Garden to meet the extended family (not mine). Well not actually Mandarin Garden, it had to be either Mandarin Court or Shanghai Garden (right next to each other on Mott). After a gut busting meal (7 courses?) at MC, we trekked over to Zinc Bar for some bossa nova.

More drinking, music.

More walking, past the sculpture near NYU housing, past the cheese caves at Murray's, past Caliente Cab Co., past 85 Bedford, finally landing at White Horse Tavern.

More drinking, more food.

We discussed why I should never, ever marry.

A subway ride to the 24hr Starbucks on the UWS.

And then we had 7 cups of coffee & tea in less than an hour (along with some tips on health and fitness from our baristas, Exodus & Dan).

That's why I'm still up at 5:30, argh.

My favorite new web comic

This made me laugh out loud at 4am in the morning.

And this was one of the best episodes ever.

Opera for All (second time around)

Back to Hong Kong Station for lunch.

Then it was off to Lincoln Center for another year of Opera for All at City Opera!

It was a great preview for the season, especially Don Giovanni which I was seeing with my bro two days hence. EVOC provided the after-party entertainment again.

AW and I stopped in to a local pizza joint (hi Mario) to grab a quick bite and then I had one of those surreal New York encounters - Xian walked in along with a posse of HCHS kids. Xian and I caught up briefly before we went on into the night.

Trance Trance

I've been listening to trance music all night...specifically remixes of Gouryella...

(lyrics to Ligaya)
This is the first day of my life
For once I'm sure
That this is where I long to be
No need to know
If there is something more than this
No need to go
Cause there is nothing more than this
My future is so clear
Cause everything's right here
Inside of me
Inside of me

Eisenberg's & Violinists

Went to Eisenberg's Sandwich Shop for lunch today, a departure from our usual Thursday forays into Chinatown. My pastrami was pretty tasty, but it still doesn't compare to Katz's Delicatessen.

Another detour on my way home. I took the R/W to Times Squares tonight and got off to transfer to the 7. I usually just stay on the R/W until it gets to Queens, but for some reason I decided to traverse the tunnels of the Times Square subway station and came upon these two girls playing their violins. I stood there for a good twenty minutes while Dilyana and her friend played some Baroque hits by Bach, Vivaldi, and Boccherini.

The Four (Eight) Seasons

Went to the Naumburg Bandshell tonight to check out Lara St. John perform with the Brooklyn Philharmonic. St. John, a noted violin soloist, is perhaps most-well known for the furor over the cover photo of her debut album release Bach Works for Violin Solo. They performed the Four Seasons twice. Actually it was The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi interspersed with the Four Seasons of Buenos Aires by Ástor Pantaleón Piazzolla of nuevo tango fame. And right now I just heard this amazing ring tone of Debussy's Arabesque. I totally have to get that for my phone.

Andy Samberg is funny

Went to a preview screening of Hot Rod tonight. It was a very uneven film (my friend was cringing in her seat the entire time, whispering stuff like, "it's terrible, this is terrible"), but the movie did have some ridiculously funny moments, especially the dancing Asian dude. I sort of wish it was even more crazy than it was.

The buzz around Andy Samberg has been building for a while now, first when Lazy Sunday came out, then there was Dick in a Box, and recently NY Mag did a whole spread on him.

Afterwards we argued over the awesomeness (or lack thereof) of the film over some Korean food at the "big house"

Siren Music Festival

This might be the last year for the Siren Music Festival. My crazy day with HP didn't give me much of a chance to enjoy this fest. I got there pretty late and only got to hear We Are Scientists before my queasy stomach got the best of me. I'm not sure if it was the crowd or lack of sleep or Nathan's hot dogs & fries, but I was in no condition to stick around for the rest of the show and made my way back into safe harbor before deciding to call it a night. There's always next year, or not.

Just Another Concert in the Park

I love and hate the annual Concerts in the Parks by the NY Philharmonic. I love hearing world-class musicians play for free. I hate all the yuppie scum at the park that won't shut up and just listen when the music is playing. I'm all for picnicking and gabbing with friends, but there's a time and place for everything. *sigh*

Tonight's program featured Conductor Sir Andrew Davis, and Soprano Measha Brueggergosman.

SpongeBob is apparently a fan too.

Krystle Warren

Krystle Warren @ Zebulon!

I don't know where I got the energy to do all this today.

Escape From Bellevue

A rock musical about the first person to escape Bellevue since 1963. And the obligatory review in the paper of record.

Hipsters in LIC

I went to the first Warm Up at PS1 of the summer.

I think all of Brooklyn was there.

Look at them.

Updates (of a sort)

I'm not happy and I'm not sad.
I'm healthier than I was since my last post 2 months ago (lost about 15 lbs and the cholesterol levels are normal).
I'm not sure that I'll be going to Vancouver in November.
This next week is going to be awesome.
And I'll try to backfill the events starting with my visit to DC.

Schiff @ the 92nd St Y

HYB is still all over the Schiff and this was his 2nd of night in a row that he was going to hear his favorite interpreter of Mozart, only this time it was Beethoven's works for piano and cello.

Die Zauberflöte

The Magic Flute @ BAM tonight (review in the Times). It's one of HYB's favorites; he'll basically go to anything by Mozart anyway. I was more excited about the prospect of seeing William Kentridge's take on the work. I remember wandering around inside the New Museum while on a date years ago (when the museum was still on Broadway in SoHo) and watching the animated films by Kentridge over and over.